Tainted Hearts
by Orochi-Ne
Summary: His heart was tainted with the love for a girl that would never be his. Her hands were tainted with the blood of the one guy that would love her unconditionally. Twoshot. AU.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is my answer to all those terrible fics about romance. You know, Percabitch and Thalico? Reviews are loved and appreciated. Also a special treat for those special readers, my co-written oneshot with _**Jhakasi** _is up on his profile, look'im up yeah. It's a great story that leads into something amazing. Anyway; get to the good stuff._

**_Tainted hearts_**

_A. Drunken nights_

She was going to be drunk _again_. He couldn't count on his fingers how many times she'd come over his house drunk. This was the seventh — eighth — time this month; the routine was really getting old but he'd never say anything. Not that he didn't _want_ to say anything it was just… He really couldn't take another person leaving him. Especiallynot someone that he had worked this hard to get in the first place.

The sound of shattering glass forced his attention from the small model dragon on his desk, one that was admittedly _slowly _starting to resemble Festus, and towards the living room from where the sound originated. With a silent sigh, he got to his feet before moving towards the living room, not really a good name for it when _she_ stayed with him.

He entered the room and glanced around, trying to find any sign of damage. The broken window immediately caught his attention; he paused making sure not to allow his flaming temper to get the best of him. His eyes followed the trail of broken glass all the way to the figure that rested on the ground. It was obvious to him that she decided to use the window again. The sight was amusing in some ways and depressing in others. There was only one time in which Thalia Grace had the courage to fly and that was when she was drunk out of her mind.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen," he grumbled through his teeth — she was more than likely too drunk to actually hear anything he was saying. Slowly he approached her, being careful not to wake her up — last time that happened he ended up getting a huge shock and rushed to the hospital in a coma. The best part of his hospital experience was listening to Thalia explain _how _he got struck by lightning in the first place. Well — that and how she promised to stop drinking until he was out of the hospital made those three days the best of his entire life.

He grabbed a pair of rubber gloves that he had left out on the coffee table. Once he made sure both his hands were secured under his drunken beauty, he lifted her up into his arms and slowly began the trip back to his bedroom — yet another night of sleeping on his pull out couch. Slowly she began to curl into his arms, the smell of alcohol and ozone emitting from her something Leo found _intoxicating_.

This routine was old but efficient; she was his whenever she couldn't go home to her family. She'd get drunk and then go see him knowing full well that he'd welcome her with open arms. He laid her down gently on his bed and sighed before pulling up the covers onto her body, his fingers dancing over her face gently. He leaned down, pressing his lips softly against hers. For a split-second, such a tiny fragment fo time, he felt a burst of hope, swearing that he felt her lips pressed back against his. There was nothing though; nothing more than his imagination playing tricks on him again.

Spinning on his heel, he was heading towards the door to allow her some peace. A low whimper from her forced him to stop in his tracks and turn to face the girl that was turning in his bed.

"Please don't leave me…" she slurred quietly. Leo was kneeling down next to the bed within the blink of an eye. Her arms extended outward towards his shirt and slowly she began pulling him into bed. Under any normal circumstances, he might've fought it but tonight wasn't any normal night. It was almost time for him to go and he _needed_ to be with her.

Once he was in the bed with her, she slowly moved her body into his. His arms coiled around her waist and slowly he found himself believing that she loved him — why else would she come to him every time everything seemed to be going wrong?

"Thanks Luke."

His world came crashing down with those two words. They confirmed his worst fears; everything he didn't want to believe was true. These nights were nothing more than an excuse to _not _see Luke. He was nothing more than a cover up and strangely some how he was happy with that.

He pulled her closer, ignoring the tears that slowly started to fall from his eyes and the voice in his head telling him how wrong this entire thing was before speaking. "No problem." His eyes began to close and somewhere in the world of dreams, he dreamt she was his.

_B. Sober days_

The days were a lot different from the nights. During the day he was a high school senior who tried his best _not _to be noticed by the rest of the word. Maybe it had something to do with his heritage but he couldn't stand most people — organic life forms were a real pain to figure out. Though even if they were a pain he always had one person that he wanted to figure out no matter how much heartache it brought him.

He stepped out of the locker room and glanced around the open gym. The jocks were in their corner making jokes and talking to some of the more popular girls. His eyes locked in on two people particular — the two people that shouldn't have been talking no matter what the situation. Luke Castellan stood with his back against the wall. He ran this high school and anyone who didn't know that basic fact was stupid. Annabeth Chase stood in his arms grinning up at him like he was a shiny new car she wanted to take for a ride — or get a ride from.

Annabeth used to be the school's highest ranking student, colleges dropped at her feet begging her to apply. But somewhere during her sophomore year that all changed — maybe it was after her boyfriend, Percy, came out of the closet and started dating the school's local badass Nico di Angelo (which was something everyone saw coming). Whatever it was, her grades dropped and she started sleeping around with anything that had a pole between its legs.

He didn't have a problem with her being a slut; he didn't even mind her hitting on Luke. What pissed him off was the fact that Luke seemed to be enjoying the treatment Annabeth was giving him even though he was dating Thalia. Slowly, the two of them leaned into each and met somewhere in the middle for one of the roughest kisses he'd ever seen.

The temperature around his body had already begun to skyrocket. Flames etched around his feet and a growl rang in the back of his throat. Without so much as a second thought, he took a basketball from the ground, held it for a few seconds to allow it to warm up, and threw it across the room straight towards Luke's perfectly chiseled face. He watched the ball fly a grin on his face but like most things involving Leo something went wrong.

Luke must've really been getting into the kiss because he lifted Annabeth off the ground which caused the heated ball to smack her right in the back of the head. She screamed, Luke dropped her, and the entire gym laughed. Leo's face flattened instantly — that wasn't his target, not by a long shot.

Soon the laughter turned to silence; Annabeth had a minor concussion and was being rushed to the infirmary. Luke saw her off before turning to face the entire gym — his eyes were colder than ice; even Boreas would've been a little cold under that gaze.

"Who threw it?" he demanded, making sure to hold the basketball in his hands. Leo slowly began to head for the gym door only to have a pair of arms clasp onto his shoulders. He glanced backwards to see the grins of Connor and Travis Stoll behind him; they were Luke's bitches in every sense of the word.

"Where do you think you're going?" Connor asked. "We saw you throw the ball; lets see how Luke feels about that."

The two brothers pulled him to the middle of gym right in front of Luke. A look of disdain passed over the jock's face. "Why am I not surprised you had something to do with this Valdez?"

Leo didn't answer — he was smarter than most people gave him credit for. When a bully asked you a question, answering was the last thing they wanted. All of their questions were hypothetical.

"So tell me why you did it, Valdez. I might go easy on you if you give me a good enough excuse. You know, I'll only break one or two ribs _this_ time." Still no answer and Luke was starting to grow impatient; the kid was going to get his assed kicked either way, so why wouldn't he just admit the reason behind it?

"Because you're dating Thalia and last time I checked Annabeth looks _nothing_ like her," Leo spat.

Luke's facial expression changed instantly when he heard what Leo had to say. The runt had this strange obsession with his girlfriend — he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. Thalia wasn't _that _hot.

"Thalia, that second rate whore? That's what this entire thing is about? Valdez, get over her. She's way out of your league."

Leo's eyes were boring into Luke. A wave of flames swirled around Leo's body and with a loud grunt a blast of white hot fire spiraled towards Luke's body. The jock sidestepped the flames only to have a fist rammed into the side of his face.

"You dirty son of a _bitch_!" Luke growled as he tried to stand up. He was half way up when a ball of fire hit him right in the chest. It didn't take long for Leo's fist to meet his nose and send him recoiling against the floor. There was a crunch and everyone in the gym knew Luke's nose was broken.

Leo glanced down at his blood stained hands before sighing to himself. His eyes wandered down to the broken shell of a jock that rested before him. Aflame flickered on his fingers and for a second he thought about sparing the poor boy. He was about to turn away when a few choice words rang in his ear.

"_She's just a second rate whore_."

He paused instantly allowing the flame to grow in size. His arm extended out and angled itself right for Luke's torso, with a low grunt a ball of white hot fire shot straight for the jock.

Leo proceeded to walk out of the gym to the sound of the screaming demigods, the smell of burning jock, and the satisfaction of knowing he had done something right for once. Nobody and he meant _nobody_ insulted his Thalia.

_C. Suicidal mornings_

A soft breath passed between Leo's lips as he glanced down. The cold of the morning was nothing to his fiery aura — which he wouldn't need for much longer. He brought his knees up to his chest and concentrated on what he had to do. It was simple no matter how he thought about it. "Just jump Valdez, nothing to it."

Thalia had found out about the gym accident. She appeared out of nowhere while he was serving detention and gave him the beating of a lifetime. After it was said and done she thanked him for defending her but she never wanted to see him again — that was when it really started kicking in. Even after everything he'd done, after everything he tried, even after the secret love letters on a few hot nights while Luke was away at basketball camp, Thalia Grace would never be his.

The dingy red roof below him was a little more than familiar. It was in that exact spot where he confessed his love for the mighty daughter of Zeus. He laughed, remembering how dorky he was all those years ago — and then stopped when he realized nothing had really changed. Even back then he was madly in love with her. His eyes looked into the fading dark sky and a smile graced his lips.

What he was about to do took courage and maybe that's why he was proud of himself. Everything in his life had turned out so wrong: his mother's death, Festus breaking down, even Piper hating him. This would be his way of making amends for everything he had done wrong in his life. There was only _one _thing he wanted in the afterlife — one thing that would make a world of difference to him. After he was dead and gone, he wanted Thalia to miss him.

In his mind he knew he was being a little more than selfish. He knew she would never be his — though he would never accept that reality. Somewhere in the darkest part of his mind, he wanted her to feel the pain he'd been feeling and this was the only way he could think of to express that.

She hadn't said 'I love you' in forever, even before the incident with Luke and slowly it was starting to hurt him. There was a time when she'd say it every single night — granted she was drunk but she still said it. Those words from her where more valuable than gold.

The rising sun caught his attention and he stood to his feet, making sure to wipe off the dust that accumulated on his pants. His eyes wandered down to the concrete ground below — seven stories last time he counted With a silent prayer to Hades he jumped off the roof, making sure to freefall in the coolest way he knew how. He was Leo Valdez after all; even dying had to be a cool thing.

Thalia Grace stepped out of her house with a scarf wrapped around her neck; the cold wasn't something she was fond of. She gripped the letter Leo had written her tightly between her fingers, he was being an idiot again and it was up to her to stop him from doing anything stupid.

A body fell in front of her causing her to jump backwards. When the body hit the ground blood spattered every where. Thalia's face quivered as she made out the face of the body — she moved forward and kneeled down in next to it, her hands pressing gently onto the back of the body.

"Le — Leo?" she started quietly. Her eyes were slowly filling with tears while her hands were getting soaked in the blood of the young boy. "Why— I don't… Leo please — I need you!" She began desperately applying shocks to his body but nothing was working. "Leo, please don't leave me! You can't — you can't leave. Please. _Please!_" Tears began streaming down her cheeks and she screamed, gods she screamed. The one person in the world who loved her for what she was had left her; the only thing she had left at this point were memories. Those damned painful memories of the time in which he was hers — all those drunken nights she spent with him. When she was drunk was the only time she could tell him how she felt, even if he didn't believe it.

In all realism, Leo's selfish wish came true. Thalia Grace would miss him until the day she died.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Welp you guys get a second chapter. Thanks to my friends over at **FM** for basically forcing me to do this chapter. A **very** special thanks to my Beta Mission to Marzipan. You're awsome as always. I do hope you all enjoy this chapter and the special OC's I created for the event. In anycase; Off to the good stuff._

**Tainted Hearts**

_D. Memorial Day _

Thalia watched as they laid Leo's body in the ground but she didn't believe it.

In her mind it was all just a dream that she'd wake up from and when she did, Leo would be standing there with that same goofy smile he always wore whenever she was around. Yeah that's what would happen — there wasn't a question in her mind. The tears that were slowly starting to fall off her cheeks weren't real; they couldn't be because he wasn't dead — he made a promise a long time ago that he'd never leave her. So, she'd stand there and wait for the horrible dream to end — it _was_ going to end. It _had _to. Even though everyone around her was crying she'd never allow herself to accept it — then again what was there to accept? This was all just a dream — _all just a dream_.

Jason stood back and watched his sister silently; he hated seeing her like this. She was a strong person — he knew that better than anyone else in the world. He stepped over to her and sighed quietly before wrapping his arm around her in the least awkward way he knew how — being a brother was still new to him after all. "Thalia," he started quietly. "You know its okay to cry."

His older sister glanced at him with a smile that was borderline insane. "I'm fine — he'll be back. He always comes back."

Jason frowned, she wasn't getting better. "Thalia, mortals can't come back from the grave, no matter how much you want it to happen… Leo's gone."

Thalia pulled herself free from her brother's arms and turned to stare up at him. "What do you mean? Of course he will — he _has _to. I'll just — I'll go talk to Nico! I'm sure he can do something about it. He is the closet connection we have to the dead after all, right? I'll ask him to talk to Leo and then — then he'll see that I miss him and he'll come back."

She turned away from him, blocking him from her life and her thoughts. He was a negative, real presence in her mind, one that was trying to prevent her from living out her fantasy and denial. Not even when the first handful of dirt that was being offered around burst on the polished metal of Leo's coffin did she connect the here and now with her heart.

It was getting dark as Thalia slowly made her towards the forest that rested in front of Nico's house. It was obvious even to an ordinary person that Thalia Grace was at her breaking point as she made towards the glowing windows which were guiding her through the dark forest.

Jason was following her as quietly as he knew how, cushioning his steps with a small pillow of wind as he walked. He watched Thalia doggedly continue onwards even as tree branches whopped at her face and arms. He moved to follow after she cleared the forest only to have an arm stop him from moving.

"It's better if you later her go Jason. This is a cross she has to bear all by herself, not much you can do about it," a calm voice said from behind him.

His heart jumped when he heard the voice and he turned to face the small daughter of Aphrodite that stood behind him. "I can at least help her; I'm her brother after all."

Piper McLean was pissed off. First her boyfriend dragged her out of bed to attend the funeral of someone she didn't even like. Now he was trying to ditch her for his sister? She'd _never_ accept that not in his wildest dreams. "Jason," she started, making sure to focus all of her energy into her words. "Thalia's going to fine; she wanted us to wait for her at your house. Oh and she also wanted you to kiss me."

Jason arched his eyebrow before leaning down and kissing Piper. Honestly he wanted to go after Thalia, he really did, but Piper's lips were right there and there was no way he could break the spell that she had him under. His big sister would just have to wait.

_E. Romantic afternoons _

The funeral was a hill she made it over by telling herself every lie she could muster up. Getting over the mountain that was school would be a completely different story. There were some people that actually blamed her for Leo's death — they obviously didn't realize the pain she was already going through about the boy's death and only wanted to make her feel worse. Even though it should've been impossible for anyone to make her feel any lower than she actually did, the assholes at HB high managed pretty well.

She sat on the floor in front of Leo's old locker — it still had the familiar smell of newly made machine and Tabasco sauce. The principal told her that since she was the closest thing to family that Leo had, it would be her responsibility to remove anything that was in his locker. In all honestly she was doing fine until she came across a picture that he had saved of the two of them — it was of their first official date, back when she could actually talk to Leo without having to be wasted or stoned. Gods, she missed those days.

Her eyes wandered around the hall as she forced herself not to think about Leo because that would lead to crying and crying in the middle of the hallway wasn't good. Nevertheless, memories slowly started flowing back into her head and she was forced to try and wipe each tear away before it had a chance to fall.

"_Thalia, you know its okay to cry_?" Her brother's voice echoed in her ears and before she knew it the tears were flowing faster than she could catch. Thalia Grace didn't hate much about this world but the one thing she did hate was feeling weak — to her crying was the ultimate form of weakness. The sweet irony of the entire situation was she used to cuss at her mom for always crying after their dad left them — 'Mom that'll never change anything! Get up off your sorry ass and do something about it.' She felt like such a hypocrite; now she knew how it felt to finally hit rock bottom.

The sound of French curses drew her attention to another part of the hallway. Her eyes were drawn to a boy leaning against a locker and talking on the phone. A pair of green eyes looked in her direction and a small smile played on the boys face.

"_Maman, je promets cette je ne serai pas tout foutre de mes professeurs_," he said with an annoyed look. Thalia blinked a look of interest coming over her face. French wasn't a language she was fluent in but seeing as how her younger brother was dating a daughter of love it came in handy when Piper started bitching (and oh did she love to bitch). If she heard correctly she had every right to be interested — the kid just talked about not screwing his teachers.

"Mom don't worry I'll be fine. Yeah — I'll see you when I get back home. Yes I know, only go after juniors and seniors. Right, I love you too. Bye. "

Nicolas Ames sighed to himself before closing his cell phone. His mother had a strange tendency to be _really _annoying at the worst possible times. He was sitting in the middle of AP Biology when suddenly a pink phone materialized in front of him followed by a voice that seemed to scream: '_Did you remember your condoms?_' To say that he wasn't a happy camper would be the understatement of the century. Not only did his teacher kick him out of class for the little outburst — the cute girl that he had been working on getting to be his lab partner stopped talking to him!

This wasn't the first time his mother had done something over the top — there _was_ that time back in Paris when his mom actually disintegrated one of his teachers for failing him. "_Nobody fails my son and gets away with it_!" he remembered her saying after the incident was over with. His fingers began to slowly rub at his temples; his family was seriously fucked up.

He had several options laid out in front of him. First, he could try and reason with his teacher and _beg _the man to allow him back in class. There was a wrenching voice that echoed through his head that allowed him to know that wasn't an option.

_My children do not beg, you know that Nicolas_. The voice of his mother was one he knew all to well — that voice had destroyed his logic many a time in the past. With most of his options now thrown out the window, Nicolas decided to do something his mother would be proud of.

He placed his phone into his pocket before moving quietly towards the girl that he vaguely recognized as Thalia Grace. The young daughter of Zeus eyed him silently before returning her attention to the hearts that she'd been drawing into the cold floor with her finger. Within a few seconds he was seated beside her a look of curiosity on his face. "Trying to prove how much you care about the floor by seducing it with your fingers? Not the hottest thing I've seen a girl do."

Sparks of electricity flew off of Thalia's body and the next thing Nicolas knew he was laying on the ground half way down the hall with smoke coming off his body.

"That may not have been the best way to start a conversation with a girl," he admitted to himself.

Thalia moved to the smoking body that rested not to far from her — whoever the hell this kid was he picked the wrong woman to mess with. She had a lot of pent up anger because of Leo's death and she planned to release it on the runt in front of her — even if he did have green eyes that reminded her of fresh cut grass, auburn hair that smelled strangely of fall, and two rows of white teeth that could make even the brightest star jealous. Yeah even with all those amazing qualities she was going to beat him up.

Even with the enraged woman behind him, Nicolas slowly stood to his feet. Normally when a woman hit him he'd stay down but there was something about Thalia — a type of aura that said something wasn't right with her. Maybe it was because he was a child of love but, he couldn't let this feeling of uneasy stay around her.

Once he was standing he adjusted his hair before turning to face Thalia. "What was his name?"

She was taken off guard; Leo was the only boy in the world who was actually brave enough to get back up after she punched him. Even Luke knew when to stay down. Either this guy was _really _brave or _extremely _stupid. "Excuse me?"

"What was his name? You know the guy that has you so off." When it came to matters of the heart Nicolas was a very straightforward person. "I've broken enough hearts to know what it looks like when a person has one. What was his name?"

She hadn't spoken to anyone about Leo's death because honestly there was no one that cared. Whenever she tried to talk to Jason, Piper would show up and steal him away. There was Percy — then again he and Nico were pretty much attached at the lips nowadays.. She could've tried Annabeth but seeing as how she never had much money, she couldn't buy any of her time. Her eyes returned back to Nicolas and there was something about those green eyes that urged her to tell him.

"His name was Leo Valdez," she said, making sure _not _to let her voice crack when his name was mentioned. "He died a few weeks ago."

Nicolas' mind began to spin as he thought back to the incident that happened a few weeks ago. His older sister had mentioned it one night while she was pestering him about a girl he brought home. "I heard of him he was a son of Vulcan, right?"

Thalia paused hearing someone who used the Roman names of the gods was rare even at HB high school. "Before I tell you anything else, who in the name of Artemis are you kid?"

There was a gleam that appeared in Nicolas's eyes. Introducing himself was something he loved to do — _especially _when he had a plan. He hadn't been this gleeful since his big sister had let him give her a makeover. "I'm Nicolas Ames son of the Roman goddess Venus, pleasure to meet you Ms. Grace." His lips parted and he gave her the brightest smile she'd ever seen. "And I think I know exactly how to help you with your current problem." He searched his pockets for a few seconds before pulling out a small mirror.

His fingers grazed the small object and a pink glow emitted from it. He opened the mirror, checked his reflection, and passed it over to Thalia. "Tell me exactly what you see, please refrain from lying. That normally ends badly."

She was skeptical at first but she took the mirror to humor the boy. When she looked into it tears started forming in her eyes. The reflection in the mirror wasn't her own — it was the smiling face of Leo Valdez. "What — what in the name of Artemis is this?"

Nicolas nodded with a look of expectancy. "You're seeing him right now aren't you? Leo I mean. That mirror was a gift from my mom — it allows a person to see what they want most. The glass is symbolic of what's blocking you from that person."

Her eyes met his and she stared for what felt like hours. "What is it," she started. "What's blocking me from him?"

He frowned before sighing to himself, now this was the hard part. "The thing separating you from Leo is — well, its life. Most people are blocked by their own selfish emotions but you're blocked by something I've never seen before. I've never known love to be so strong that it can transcend life itself… That means he's waiting for you on the other side."

All she needed to hear was that he was waiting. The school bell rang and before the doors of the classrooms opened, she had already made her choice. She was going to be with him one way or another.

_F. Fight night_

She was surrounded that was obvious to anyone. Thalia glanced around her surroundings taking notice of the shadowy figures that seemed to move in and out of her view. Maybe it was because of the three bottles of liquor that she had consumed prior to coming to this strange place but for some strange reason she wasn't nervous. The process she was about to undertake felt almost _natural_, you know as natural as fighting an army of hellhounds can be.

"I'm not stupid you know," she said, concentrating all her brain power into forming a decent sentence. "Hellhounds don't gather in this large a number unless someone summons them. Show yourself, cowards."

Two pairs of eyes opened shortly after with colors that were something she'd never seen in her young life. The first pair was a bright gold that ripped through the darkness of the night — the second pair was a light gray which seemed to look right through her soul.

"You're rather clever for a child of Greece — I'll give you credit for that." A body stepped forward from the shadows and revealed a boy that was about sixteen years old. He had blonde hair that conflicted with all the black he had on and what appeared to be a bronzed stick in his hand. "Though I assume you're stone stupid if you actually came here by choice. This is Roman territory girl."

Thalia gritted her teeth, she knew far to well where she was — even though _some _of the Roman demigods managed to get along with their Greek counterparts there were still a few that clung to their old ways of destroying each other on sight.

"Reginald be a dear and greet our victim — I mean our guest." the boy said while speaking into the darkness that rested behind him.

The second pair of eyes shifted and a body soon exited from the darkness which earned a soft growl from one of the hellhounds behind him. "You really should stop bossing me around, Remus. I can function quite well on my own thanks." This boy was a little different from the first — he had a more menacing aura about him and the gray streaks that rested in his hair were all but unnatural.

Remus glanced at his friend before giving a low sigh. "Must you take everything negatively? It was a simple suggestion — we're being rude."

Reginald's eyes went from his partner to Thalia in a matter of seconds and a sadistic grin soon came over his face. "She looks like she'd be a good fighter and a better lover. Why don't you just let me take this one?"

"_Please_," Remus retorted. "Lupa would rip me to shreds if I let you take the girl. The only real option we have is to kill her." Reginald gritted his teeth before nodding his head; he glanced backwards at the hellhound army which rested around him before pointing a finger in Thalia's direction.

_That's when all Hades broke loose. _

The hellhounds moved in on her in a large circular pack — Thalia focused in on the large group around her. Even if she was drunk she was a demigod first and the one thing she knew how to do better than anything else was fight. She gripped hold of the can of mace in her pocket, yanked it out, clicked the top, and pointed her newly formed spear straight ahead at the on coming army.

Thalia shot her hand forward and watched the burst of electricity that fired off claim a good section of the hounds. With a low burp she charged forward with her eyes gleaming with power — lightning struck all through the army as she ran making sure to slash up a few hounds on her way to the two leaders. Sure while she was running she might've taken a few bites to the face and a scratch or two on both her arms but the liquor helped to ease her pain.

After a few minutes of fighting she managed to take out most of the hellhounds and now she had her spear aimed right at Reginald and Remus. The two were shocked to say the least — Thalia wasn't expected to make it past the first hellhound.

"Well… This is disappointing to say the least — I would've so preferred that you died by the hounds. Now we have to actually kill you."

Thalia's eyes sparked with electricity. "For a child of Rome you sure seem cocky. If you plan on killing me just do it you snot-nosed bastard."

An odd sensation came over Thalia after she spoke — the confidence she lost after Leo's death was slowly coming back to her. For the first time in a while she felt _good_ about herself. Sparks of electricity shot off her body and the smell ozone began to leak from her — Thalia Grace was back in full effect.

"Now this just won't do — this strange feeling of power isn't going to help you now." Remus raised his wand before flicking it in her direction, the next thing she knew her spear was nothing more than a group of moths. Her eyes opened wide as she glanced at Remus. "What — what in the name of Hades? Are you a wizard?"

Reginald grinned at Thalia's reaction. "It helps to know your opponent, girly. You're obviously a daughter of Jupiter. Remus here is a son of _Trivia_, goddess of magic. He's a rather bitching wizard." He snickered at the look his partner gave him. "I'm a son of _Invidia _goddess of jealousy and envy. Now that we're done with the formalities let's get down to business."

Without a warning Reginald rushed forward towards Thalia, a sinister smirk covering his lips. He cocked his fist backwards and attempted to deliver a swift punch to Thalia's gut — which was met by an open palm. Thalia gripped his hand before delivering a shocking jolt of electricity directly into his body. The Roman demigod sputtered and collapsed onto the ground.

"Not so tough now are you?" she said speaking to the smoking body that rested on the ground. Her eyes soon fell on Remus who wore the same unemotional expression. "You're not much of a fighter — I would suggest that you run while I feel like letting you live."

The young demigod simply tilted his head before giving an eerie smile. "If you think you've won — you're stupider than I thought." Remus raised his wand into the air and flicked it in Thalia's direction; she flew backwards about ten feet before regaining her balance. But even by that point it was too late — a pair of burned arms coiled around her neck and began applying pressure. "How do that feel you Greek bitch?"

Her eyes glanced backwards at the still smoldering face of Reginald. His gray eyes had dimmed down and were now blood shot red. "Payback is a bitch."

After she heard the first pop she knew what was going on — this was going to be the end. The second pop came and she could feel herself slowly losing consciousness. When she first started out maybe should've tried to fight — but fighting didn't seem good right now. She had overused her powers taking out the hellhounds and her spear was nothing more than a group of moths fluttering in the sky. Maybe for once in her life just going with the flow was the best thing. The fourth pop came and her body went limp — now all she needed to do was die and it would all be over.

_Crack! _Thalia's body fell to the ground limply — the last thing she was able to see as she slipped out of the world of the living was the grinning faces of Remus and Reginald above her.

While on the other hand the first thing she was able to see as she crossed over into the world of the dead was the smiling face of Leo Valdez waiting for her with his arms open wide.


End file.
